sup everybody this is jonathan Dorn cpa I'm a licensed CPA in the state of
Florida this is a what does one of the state of Florida sent to me state of
Florida or county certified public accountant Jonathan endure that is me so
yeah this is me I just don't want you to know that i have passed my tests have
got my license but basically I just want this to be my my cpa exam experience
let's start off that I went into community college at age 31 and had this
dream of being a CPA took me six and a half years when I was 37 and a half i
got my license on january 29 2015 licensee . state of Florida arm so you
know it's it's never too late to have that dream of doing it and I just want
to say i ended up failing for exams and i ended up passing the four exams and 18
months so i just want to give my exam history here the trials tribulations and
just going to try to relive it through this video anyways arm so in college you
know I went back to school very late well you know 31 and i think i graduated
when I was 35 maybe I want to Broward Community College transferred over to
fau florida atlantic university boca raton florida island florell
anyways I i graduated college I struggled I think I kind of was like a
2.7 2.8 I struggled I don't know what I can say you know it doesn't come easy to
me you know some things do come museum
I'm fast with numbers think of a people person but accounting straight counting
all the stuff in the Far exam never came easy to me first so I graduated I got to
sit for the CPA exam and I studied for about two months i think from middle
over our november and december i studied for for example first exam
ah and I had no idea what to expect
uh you know I used a bunch of different sources of information but I wasn't
wasn't working wasn't doing anything I was just studying i took the Far exam
first and i ended up getting i took that in january i ended up getting a 73 on my
first one and so I feel that I was over one at this point and I I actually felt
fine about it I just didn't want to put everything I had into this and get like
a 40 or 50 like honestly I tried my heart you know I studied a lot i started
really hard and I was closed so I knew that I can do it
arm but right after there will be sit for the exam i knew i was going to do
this i knew i was going to pass this I what failure was not an option
you know you only fail if you stop just a setback so it's just a setback
so after I got a 73 I was feeling ok on far then I i went and i work to season
as a tax preparer HR block learned a lot
so April 15 came around and I thought oh well I will up i'll take tax I'll take
the tab drag exam now because I just attacked so I should be got that I think
I studied for that for about a month month and a half wasn't working and you
know i just got too complacent in this exam
I you know I would just I would stay four five six hours a day you know x 7
study for like 40 hours a week and I do the same multiple choice questions and I
i thought you know I thought I was going to do i thought i was going to pass you
know I'm a tax guy arm end up taking redeye got a 68 on it so now I'm 0 for 2
now you know it was tough
oh it was tough because you know i don't know you know along the way of this
whole process of getting a college degree being a CPA always question am i
smart enough
can I do this I was over to and I just I just buckled up and you know I signed up
for reg again i think i was going to take it and i think another five or six
weeks and this time I didn't worry about studying so many hours I just studied as
much as I could tell my brain was about to explode
I believe I I started really incorporating exercise in here by the
name of the channel cpa strength because I lifting weights has changed my life
for the positive in so many ways and I think it helped me focus in on pass the
exam but I got a little smarter on my study strategies arm authoritative
literature and whatnot sign up taking reg and I i got an 83 on it my first my
first victory and who did that feel good that felt good and so then I think in
one month later I are 6-8 weeks later I was going to take the bc and I just
started my butt off for the bc and ended up getting an 83 on that so now is two
for two now is feeling pretty confident and you might I have three other videos
that i put back on the youtubes and I was feeling pretty confident I was a 242
you know 244 now had two wins and so I want to start making some youtube videos
but what happened was i I just I started thinking about what you two were younger
to make and instead of studying and i had to put everything away arm and you
know
I had this laser focus of the cpa exams once after I failed a the reg the first
time I took it with a 68 I just was like nothing nothing at her you know I just
study and study and do more multiple choice questions you know I didn't care
arm you know I had a schedule you know I didn't I didn't do anything I i studied
and lifted weights and you know I I got it over with
but anyways I I took those youtube videos down because I I i stopped kind
of doing social media and I was just in the zone home so I forgot the second win
the dec of 83 I went took auditing arm and i ended up passing that one with an
81 which was weird because i thought well i took to be i took bc and i didn't
think i did that good well you don't know I don't know what the word
communication which I don't think I did that great and why not get any 3 which
was good for me you know what they say I want a 99 but i'll take the 75 it
where was I
fuck sorry I lost my train of thought I'm going on the cuff here of oh my
aaron 83 on I took auditing and I thought oh man I I thought I nailed
already
I thought like maybe like a freaking 90 I don't get anyone so I don't you just
can't really tell anyways now when I passed all these three exam i think i
passed a high-pass reg be seen auditing within like 4-5 months and I I wasn't
doing anything you know I wasn't working I was just studying you know i don't i
don't have a kid
ah had a girlfriend at the time didn't really see her but every three weeks
that that kind of hurts relationship but you know i was i was tunnel-visioned
into this past the auditing so i had so i was past 30 min knows i was feeling
pressure myself and I think ahead you know if you have 18 months to pass
everything so I had maybe I don't like a year before anything would expire so at
this point
uh-oh go into being a different video or something about the UH you know you
gotta find a job and have a secret sign it within so much time of passing the
exam but i need to look for a job so I need to find a job with the cpa there to
sign off on me so i ended up finding a job with the cpa of work their cpa was
the owner actually and i started working there
january of $YEAR to shoot a few months later after I passed the audit exam
I are you
i started working as an accountant tax repair and I got that job I got the job
in december and start too late January so I thought I'll start studying for far
so I'm starting for far then i started working and it was just really stressful
job lot of things were going on with work
uh I I remember I took far my first video far exam after i was working on my
new tax repair you know a cpa office i think i was working there 33 weeks
prepared my first corporate tax return and then that was on a friday and
saturday i had the reader with far is getting a 72 73 on that one so yeah I
was two points away from past everything and you know it it really sucked arm you
know through through the seat one of the hardest things I i believe is when
people are close to you you know they just assumed that you you know you're
going to pass so they say but when you study you didn't study and you're like
yeah it's time my butt off but I still failed it you don't you know don't
listen to people don't take the text they don't they don't know arm shit
stuff and I don't know what else to say that you know big accomplishment for me
but uh so I I went I went through after that I finished that was like I think i
failed with no with another 73 and far remind you all you do is pass far i
think i got eight about eight months left before stuff starts expiring now
I'm having to work you know late hours some overtime during taxis and so I 7
has been do taxis and after tax season I'll start studying again for far so
that happened you know about it i think you know up week after april fifteenth i
started studying for bargain and mind you this I this was really the first
time i was studying main studying while i was working so i was stuffy nose get
up in the morning work all day come home get a quick lift in at home
45 minutes study for two hours we can study so well just I'm still in question
just studying my butt off this time i took the day I took the exam on saturday
and i took a friday i took the friday off from work and so I think every took
it in
Oh June or July failed the 71
yeah so now i'm getting the worse on the far and I'm like I I don't know if I'm
ever going to do it or not you know this white I I don't know if we're going to
do it
our stuffs getting started
firing on me you know I I just you know it's another one of those points where I
just said you know fuck it man i'm going to do this shit I'm gonna fucking do it
Oh fucking care and i'm going to do it and i retook it again in August August
September much for the blackout months are but studied took a couple months
later going to work all the time and I got end up getting 278 on the far it was
the fourth time I took far i don't but anyways I might have gotten some of
these mixed up but it it was a long process but I i think it was totally
worth it for me arm I can just remember you know I passed all the exams and
couldn't believe it you know it i set my mind to it we some people in you know
some people didn't think I could do this I I wasn't sure all the time
ah i wanted to give up a lot of times
don't ever give up
you can do this i hate how people say anybody can do you know you can get
anybody can do it
no not everybody can do this if you want it you can do it you gotta want it
you can't passes for somebody else anyways so and passing off for exams i
finally passed far that was the Beast arm so i worked with my work the arrest
year at my job for my work experience and I got my word on the state website
like Jane january thirtieth I believe I saturday morning and I looked in
suspected I was licensed CPA in florida and I remember driving down the road and
war i was the road a few hours after i got the news i was a CPA cpa and you
know it was six and a half years of just release and I mean I broke down and I
cried it was was a deep moment in my life and you know
I guess the main takeaway is if you if you want to be a CPA and your state
board lets you sit for the CPA exam you can do it you know didn't come easy to
me you know i didn't get the 95 that are going to have really screwed by my
secret I have a license to put that in my name now
yes I do so anyways arm that's about it for now
I mean if you made it this far awesome of you know like the video subscribe the
channel cpa strength i'm going to combine my love of accounting and taxes
business
arting cpa stuff and I'm going to combine it with strength trying to be
the strongest ck in America working on Florida so you know who's